Sad is right.
Third option is online/mail-order - you can get something with much better components in the same $$ range. Only hitch is you will need to do some partial assembly and tuning. Not difficult if you are even slightly mechanically inclined, but if you're not comfortable with that then stick with the LBS.
As to your actual question, the Giant has a much better fork, the rest of the components are a coin flip IMO.
Last edited by scyclops; 07-01-11 at 08:02 AM.